Licensed rights clearance and tracking for digital assets

ABSTRACT

Rights clearances management for assets, such as media assets. A rights brokerage service enables potential licensees to clears rights to use assets within designated projects, such as advertising campaign projects. The potential licensee uses an interface to select or identify an asset without necessarily accessing the asset itself. The rights holders and the rights held by each rights holder are identified based on the asset identity. A request is automatically issued to the rights holders to approve use of the asset for the project. The potential licensee may use an interface to track progress of approvals from the rights holders. Unenforceable rights are detected and approval is automatically obtained. If all enforceable rights are cleared, the asset may be committed for approval by a project manager or other authority. When approved, a license to use the asset is automatically created between the potential licensee and each of the rights holders.

PRIORITY REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/763,347, entitled LICENSED RIGHTS CLEARANCE AND TRACKING FOR DIGITALASSETS, filed on Jun. 14, 2007 by inventors Curtis W. M. Bowden et al.

FIELD OF ART

The invention is directed to the management of rights in assets, andmore particularly, to managing clearance and tracking of digital contentrights.

BACKGROUND

A content management system, such as a Digital Asset Management system(DAM) is often employed to enable multiple users to store, search, andaccess content that is owned or licensed. This content is generallyprovided as one or more media assets in a digital format, such aspictures, text, videos, graphics, illustrations, images, audio files,fonts, colors, and the like. Conventional media asset management systemsprovide for storage, search and retrieval of media assets, but often theassets are not available for permitted use without obtaining approvalsassociated therewith. Moreover, there may be incomplete knowledge, oreven no knowledge, of whose approvals are required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention aredescribed with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings,like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the variousfigures unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a rights clearance and trackingsystem, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sample user interface for tracking rights clearance ofselected assets of interest for use within a project, in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sample user interface for reviewing a history of revisionsmade to rights clearance information, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which allrights have been cleared for use within a project, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which at leastone right has been denied for use within a project, in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sample user interface for viewing assets that have beenselected for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments bywhich the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.Among other things, the invention may be implemented in differentembodiments as methods, processes, processor readable mediums, systems,business methods, or devices. Accordingly, the present invention maytake the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely softwareembodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense.

Briefly, embodiments of the present invention relate to rightsmanagement for songs, pictures, movies and other such media assets.Among other things, the present invention enables a rights brokerageservice to clear rights for assets that are owned by first parties, forlicense to second parties to use within designated projects, such asadvertising campaign projects. For example, a second party, B, maydesire to license an asset owned by first parties A1, A2, . . . , An,for use within an automobile advertising campaign. In this case, thepresent invention may be used to broker the process of identifyingparties A1, A2, . . . , An, and obtaining necessary clearancestherefrom.

Conventional media asset management systems provide for storage, searchand retrieval of media assets, but often the assets are not availablefor permitted use without obtaining approvals associated therewith.Moreover, there may be incomplete knowledge, or even no knowledge, ofwhose approvals are required. Embodiments of the present inventioncomplement such conventional media asset management systems by making iteasy for customers who want to license the media for their use, toidentify and obtain the requisite approvals.

Generally, rights approvals include (i) grant of licenses to use media,and (ii) approval of the way the media is presented within a specificproject. Approvals may be based on guidelines, such as trademark layoutguidelines. The party that grants the licenses may be different from theparty that approves the media usage.

An aspect of the present invention provides a collaborative workflow foridentifying, tracking and obtaining clearances and approvals from rightsholders to use media in projects. Rights licensors, rights approvers,rights brokers and rights licensees collaboratively use embodiments ofthe present invention to select assets of interest, to clear rights, toapprove presentation of media within projects, to track progress ofclearances and approvals, and to obtain requisite licenses.

The media itself need not be present. If used in conjunction with amedia asset management system, the media does not need to be accessedduring the clearance process provided by embodiments of the presentinvention. Thumbnail images and meta-data can be used to represent themedia assets. Access to the media assets themselves is deferred untilrequired clearances have been obtained. In other aspects of theinvention, a delivery mechanism can be used to deliver an asset once therights are cleared. For instance, a licensor may provide a “master”element for final use, which is deliverable to a licensee via anembodiment of the invention.

Aspects of the present invention decouple the process of obtainingclearances and approvals to use media assets, from the assetsthemselves. In distinction from conventional licensing systems, themedia assets need not be ingested into a media asset management system,and need not be available to the rights brokerage service. Such assets,which have not been ingested, are referred to as “meta-data only”assets, and are tracked and cleared in place of, or in addition to theactual media assets.

Other aspects of the present invention include reporting and auditingtools, which enable licensees and rights holders to review theirlicenses and see, for selected media assets, which licenses are in forceand which licenses were previously granted. Rights holders can reviewlicenses for the assets in which they hold rights, and licensees canreview licenses for the assets which they use. By linking licenses toassets, this aspect of the present invention provides a variety of viewsincluding, but not limited to, views keyed on asset, project, license,rights holder and licensee.

Another aspect of the present invention also incorporates statutorycopyright information, to automatically recognize that certain approvalsare not required by copyright law.

It will thus be appreciated that the present invention includes aspectsthat serve as the basis for a powerful clearance center for mediaassets.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a simplified block diagram ofa rights clearance and tracking system 100, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. System 100 is a one-stop clearinghouse, which enables customers to license media assets for use in theirprojects, by identifying and clearing rights from appropriate holders ofrights to the media assets. System 100 may operate in conjunction with adigital asset management system (not shown) that holds a largesearchable archive of media assets. Alternatively, system 100 mayoperate in isolation, solely as a clearing house. System 100 may beimplemented entirely in hardware, entirely in software, or in acombination of hardware and software. System 100, or individualcomponents may comprise one or more electronic devices, such as aserver, a personal computer, a mobile device, a cellular phone, and/orother devices. The components may be coupled through a network, such asan intranet or the internet. Similarly, the entire system may be coupledto client devices and/or other resources through a network. The device,or devices, generally include a communication interface, a processor, amemory, an input device, and an output device that are generally coupledtogether via a communication bus. A machine readable medium, such as astorage disc, a transmission line, or other medium may be used to storeor transmit data and/or machine instructions, which may be processed bythe processor to perform a number of operations. As shown in FIG. 1,example system 100 includes five components and five databases, whichare described in detail hereinbelow.

Rights Analyzer 105

Shown in FIG. 1 is a rights analyzer 105, which analyzes one or morespecified media assets and identifies appropriate holders of rights tothe assets. A customer, for example, may search a database 110 of mediaassets, and find and select one or more media assets which he isinterested in incorporating within a project. Generally the customerdoes not know the identity of the rights holders to the selected assets.By clicking on a graphical user interface control, e.g., a “Clear Rightsfor these Media Assets” button, the customer invokes system 100, whichin turn invokes rights analyzer 105. Rights analyzer 105 accepts asinput, an identifier of the one or more selected media assets, andproduces as output a list of one or more entities that hold rights tothe selected assets.

Alternatively, or in addition, the customer may input media assets ormedia asset descriptors into system 100 from one or more sourcesexternal to system 100, for assets that are not archived in database110, or even for assets that are archived in the database, but that thecustomer has located in external sources. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, when such externally sourced assetsenter system 100, they are subsequently entered into database 110 as“meta-data only” assets if they are not already stored in the database.Thus, the media asset itself and/or only the descriptors are enteredinto the database 110.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database 110includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata asindicated in TABLE I.

TABLE I Metadata Schema for Media Asset Database 110 MetadataDescription Asset ID Key: Unique identifier for asset Asset descriptionTitle or other descriptor of asset Location of Asset File systemlocation of digital asset, if available; NIL for “metadata only” assetsAsset Date #n A copyright date associated with the asset, (n = 1, 2, . .. ) such as its date of creation, its date of publication, the date ofits author's death, etc. Date Type #n Type of copyright date for Date #n

In one embodiment of the present invention, rights analyzer 105 operatesby using available media asset metadata that includes rights holderinformation. Such metadata may have been prepared manually, partiallyautomatically or fully automatically. In another embodiment of thepresent invention, rights analyzer 105 operates by using databases,optionally third party databases, that provide rights holder informationbased on digital fingerprints of media, such as the Gracenote databaseused to identify songs. In yet another embodiment of the presentinvention, a media editor manually provides rights holder information torights analyzer 105 via a graphical user interface. The media editormay, for example, visually review photos and identify celebrities andtrademarks that appear in the photos. The present invention provides auser interface for the media editor, e.g., with a control activated byan “Add Rights Holder” button, for entering rights holders. To assistthe media editor, the “Add Rights Holder” button includes a drop downlist of various types of rights holders, including inter alia studios,writers, actors and trademarks, and the media editor can enter rightsholder data according to type.

As shown in FIG. 1, rights analyzer 105 also accesses a database 115that maintains information about rights holders and the assets in whichthey hold rights. In accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention, database 115 may be pre-populated with rights holderinformation, and also updated when rights analyzer 105 identifies newrights holders, or new assets held by already known rights holders.

In accordance with the present invention, database 115 includes interalia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLEII.

TABLE II Metadata Schema for Rights Holder Database 115 MetadataDescription Rights holder ID Key: Unique identifier for rights holderRights holder description Title or other descriptor for rights holderAsset #n (n = 1, 2, . . . ) ID of asset #n for which rights holder hasrights Type of right #n Studio, writer, actor, etc. for asset #n

In addition, rights holder entity information is also stored, includinginter alia rights holder name, point of contact, postal address,telephone number, e-mail address, payment information and the like.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that there aregenerally multiple rights holders to a single piece of media. Use of amovie with a soundtrack, for example, may require licenses from a largenumber of licensors, including inter alia holders of rights to:

still copyright

footage copyright

story copyright

characters copyright

talent #1, talent #2, . . .

music master recording rights

music composition rights

lyrics

trademarks

property rights

personality rights

privacy rights,

and further including inter alia guilds such as:

Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Writers Guild of America (WGA)

American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

Screen Actors Guild (SAG)

In general, customers are often not able to identify these rightsholders on their own. Many customers are also not able or are unwillingto negotiate with rights holders directly for the requisite licensesthat the customers need. Embodiments of the invention enable a customerto obtain the needed licenses. Before committing to a license, acustomer may explore licensing issues for a number of assets todetermine which asset, if any, suits the customer's needs. The customermay obtain a list of rights that are needed for various assets. Thecustomer may also employ a consulting service to evaluate potentialcomplexities and/or a likelihood of success in obtaining needed rightsfor various assets. In one example, a customer may consider using a filmclip, and ask a service to assess all rights embedded within the clip.For instance, the customer may not be aware that designer sunglassesworn by an actor in the clip may require a clearance. The customer orservice may evaluate the complexity and/or likelihood of obtaining thenecessary clearance before deciding whether to pursue licensing thatclip or another clip.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, rightsanalyzer 105 further accesses a database 120 of statutory informationthat specifies conditions under which licenses are not required formedia assets in various states, and in various countries around theworld. For example, in many territories publicity rights for a personexpire at a fixed number of years after the person's death. When rightsanalyzer 105 identifies such rights, it consults database 120 todetermine whether or not a license is required in a given territoryduring a given time span. For example, a customer may select a mediaasset for use in Germany, with a photograph of Albert Einstein. AlbertEinstein died in 1955, and database 120 may indicate that publicityrights in Germany expire 50 years after death, in which case rightsanalyzer 105 determines that a license to the publicity rights of AlbertEinstein is no longer required.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database 120includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata asindicated in TABLE III.

TABLE III Metadata Schema for Statutory Information Database 120Metadata Description Statute ID Key: Unique identifier for statuteStatute reference Reference to appropriate section of copyright statuteTerritory Geographical region (state, country, etc.) Type of rightPublicity, composition, guild, etc. Expiration condition Condition uponwhich copyright ends

Rights Clearance Module 125

Rights clearance module 125 is used to obtain approvals and clearancesfrom the rights holders identified by rights analyzer 105. In accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention, rights clearance module 125provides a graphical user interface through which rights holders canreview license requests, negotiate license fees and terms, grantlicenses, and approve media for use in customer projects. Rightsclearance module 125 uses rights holder database 115 to authorize rightsholders to view specific customer projects.

In some instances rights holders may grant conditional licenses,dependent upon approval of a final version of the customer project. Asmentioned hereinabove, the party responsible for reviewing and approvingthe final version may be different than the party granting the rights,and the present invention provides interfaces for both such parties.

In some instances rights holders may assign or sub-license their rightsto a licensing agency that uses system 100, in which case system 100itself can directly grant licenses and approve media usages. Assets indatabase 110 may then be tagged according to whether they are modelreleased (e.g., approved by a person, who's image or other aspect isincluded in an asset), or subject released (e.g., approved by an ownerof art or other subject matter included in an asset), or both.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, rightsclearance module 125 stores clearance information in a project database130. Project database 130 is used to organize projects into componentassets, and maintain clearance status for each component asset in eachoverall asset in a project. Component assets may include portions of anoverall asset, such as a song heard within a film clip.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, database 130includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata asindicated in TABLE IV.

TABLE IV Metadata Schema for Project Database 130 Metadata DescriptionProject ID Key: Unique identifier for customer project ProjectDescription Title or other descriptor for project Customer ID ID ofproject owner - potential licensee Asset #m ID of asset #m selected forpotential use in project (m = 1, 2, . . . ) Rights Holder #m:n ID ofrights holder #n for asset #m (n − 1, 2, . . . ) Status #m:n Clearancestatus of rights holder #m:n (approved, pending, denied)

Tracking Module 135

Tracking module 135 is used to progressively track rights clearances asvarious rights holders grant or decline to grant licenses to assetsselected for customer projects. A customer may view the status of hisproject and see which licenses have been granted, which licenses havebeen denied, and which licenses are pending. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, clearance information is written todatabase 130 by rights clearance module 125. Tracking module 135accesses project database 130 to retrieve the current clearanceinformation to display.

To this end, reference is now made to FIGS. 2-6, which illustratevarious tracking information provided by tracking module 135. FIG. 2 isa sample user interface for tracking rights clearance of selected assetsof interest for use within a project, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. Shown in FIG. 2 is a window 200 includingthumbnail images representing assets. Thumbnail image 205 represents acomposition entitled “Money Song”, and thumbnail image 210 represents asong by artist Barrett Strong.

The information displayed in window 200 corresponds to a specificproject under development. The assets represented by the thumbnailimages correspond to assets that were selected by a potential licenseeusing this embodiment of the present invention, to be considered forpossible incorporation within his project.

Alongside each thumbnail image is a list of rights holders for thecorresponding asset, as generated by rights analyzer 105. The list for“Money Song” includes an entry 215 for a master rights holder, EMICapitol, and an entry 220 for a sync (i.e., composition) rights holder,Kay Gee Bee Music, Ltd. Each entry includes a status indicator,indicating the status of the rights clearance vis a vis thecorresponding rights holder. As shown in FIG. 2, the clearance with EMICapitol is pending, and the clearance with Kay Bee Gee Music, Ltd. hasencountered a problem. Similarly, the list for the song by BarrettStrong includes an entry 225 for a master rights holder, EMI Capitol,and an entry 230 for a sync rights holder, EMI Music Publishing. Theclearance with both of these rights holders is indicated as cleared.

Each entry in the list of rights holders has a control 235 for editingthe rights information, and a control 240 for deleting the entry. Theseare generally used by administrators rather than by licensees. Levels ofsecurity can be applied to control access to these functions. Below thelist is a control 245 for adding a new entry. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, changes to the list of rightsholders are recorded in a log, and available for review via a control250. When a user activates control 250, a history of revisions isdisplayed, as in FIG. 3.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which is a sample user interface forreviewing a history of revisions made to rights clearance information,in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG.3 is a window 300 that includes a thumbnail image 305 representing anasset, such as the movie “For the Love of Money” indicated in thefigure. To the right of thumbnail 305 is a log of changes 310 made tothe rights clearance list for the corresponding asset. For example, onSep. 5, 2006 the status was changed from “Pending” to “Cleared”.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which is a sample user interface forviewing assets for which all rights have been cleared for use within aproject, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.Shown in FIG. 4 is a window 400 that displays thumbnails for assetsselected by a potential licensee for consideration for use within aproject 405 entitled “Graduation 2007”. Specifically, the thumbnails inwindow 400 correspond to those of the selected assets which belong to a“Total Clearance Package” group 450; namely, those of the selectedassets for which all required rights have been cleared for use inproject 405. Other projects under development are shown in the left paneof window 400, and a user can select from any of them.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an asset isautomatically moved into the Total Clearance Package 450 when all of theasset's rights have been cleared; e.g., when the status of each entry inthe asset's list of rights holders is “Cleared” for project 405.Conversely, if the status of one or more entries in the list of rightsholders should change from “Cleared” to a different status, then theasset is automatically pulled from the Total Clearance Package 450.

The Total Clearance Package 450 shown in FIG. 4 includes a movie “Pompand Circumstance” 410, a movie “We're in the Money” 415, and a song byartist Barrett Strong 420. Assets in Total Clearance Package 450 areeligible to be committed to a group, such as Final Model Line, byselecting an asset and selecting an Add button 425.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, rightsclearance module 125 notifies a rights holder when an asset is waitingfor his clearance. Such notification may be inter alia by e-mail or textmessage. Tracking module 135 notifies a potential licensee when one ormore assets that he selected have been totally cleared. Depending on howthe process was initiated, a license agreement may be automaticallycompleted, or may be offered to a potential licensee for finalexecution.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a sample user interface forviewing assets for which at least one right has been denied for usewithin a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. Shown in FIG. 5 is a window 500 that displays thumbnails forassets selected by a potential licensee for consideration for use withina project 505 entitled “Graduation 2007”. Specifically, the thumbnailsin window 500 correspond to those of the selected assets which belong toa “Denied” group 550; namely, those of the selected assets for which atleast one rights holder has denied clearance for use within project 505.

The Denied group shown in FIG. 5 includes an “Unwritten” asset 510, amovie “Take the Money and Run” 515, and a movie “We May Never Pass ThisWay Again” 520. An “Unwritten” asset, also referred to as a “meta-dataonly” asset, is an asset which is not physically or electronicallypresent within a rights clearance system. In such case, the rightsclearance system acts as a broker, which clears rights for assets thatare licensed by a third party.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an asset isautomatically moved into the Denied group if one or more of the entriesin its list of rights holders have a status of “Denied”. Conversely, ifthe statuses should change so that none of the entries have a “Denied”status, then the asset is automatically pulled from the Denied group.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, trackingmodule 135 identifies to the customer possible substitutes for assets inthe Denied group. For example, if a rights holder to a photo of MarilynMonroe declines to grant a license to a customer, then tracking module135 proposes to the customer alternate photos that may be used as asubstitute for the denied photo. Such alternate photos are identified bysearching through asset database 110.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is a sample user interface forviewing assets that have been committed to be licensed for use within aproject, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.Shown in FIG. 6 is a window 600 that displays thumbnails for assetsselected by a potential licensee for use within a project. Specifically,the thumbnails in window 600 correspond to those assets which belong toa “Final Model Line” group 650; namely, those of the selected assetswhich have been committed for inclusion within the project. Only assetsfrom the Total Clearance Package 450 from FIG. 4 are eligible forcommitment.

Use of the Final Model Group 650 in this embodiment of the presentinvention is of advantage where more than one level of approval isrequired for committing assets for inclusion within a project. When afinal storyboard or layout for a project is created and composed andapproved by the project designers, final approval may further berequired by one or more management levels. The relevant authorities cancollaboratively use this embodiment of the present invention to view andapprove the project.

Licensing Module 140

Referring back to FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention, a licensing module 140 generates digital licenses forthe Final Model Line 650 assets, for use within a customer project. Adigital license is generally a digital formal contract. Digital licensesare generated when assets are added to the Final Model Group. Trackingmodule 135 can provide the necessary contract information from RightsHolder Database 115 and Projects Database 130 to Licensing Module 140.In another embodiment, Licensing Module 140 may be in directcommunication with Rights Holder Database 115 and/or Projects Database130. After all approvals are obtained for an asset, the digital licenseis signed or otherwise approved by a rights holder and a licensee.Approval may include electronic signatures, a secure submission, writtensignatures, or other indication of approval. The digital licenses arestored in a license database 145 for reference, and linked with thelicensed assets in database 110.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database 145includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata asindicated in TABLE V.

TABLE V Metadata Schema for License Database 145 Metadata DescriptionLicense ID Key: Unique identifier for license Location of License Filesystem location of digital copy of license Licensor ID Identifier ofrights holder Licensee ID Identifier of customer Asset ID Identifier ofmedia asset Project ID Identifier of customer project in which asset isused Term Time period of license Territory Geographical territory oflicense License Fee Cost of license

In addition, licensee entity information is also stored, including interalia licensee name, point of contact, postal address, telephone number,e-mail address and payment information.

Reporting Module 150

Databases 110 and 145 can be joined and/or queried to enable a reportingmodule 150 to output a variety of reports. For example, using reportingmodule 150, a licensee can generate a report of his licenses that are inforce, and a report of licenses granted to him for designated assets. Alicensor can generate a report of his licenses that are in force, and areport of licenses granted by him for designated assets. A licensingbrokerage can generate reports of licenses granted for designatedassets.

It may thus be appreciated that system 100 provides a cooperativeworkflow between customers, right brokers, rights holders and rightsapprovers.

In reading the above description, persons skilled in the art willrealize that there are many apparent variations that can be applied tothe methods and systems described. Thus it may be appreciated that thepresent invention is also advantageous for use with general brokeragesystems and services that require rights clearances, in addition tomedia asset licensing, including inter alia brokering of legalcontracts, brokering of real estate rentals and sales, brokering ofsales and marketing distributorships, and brokering of services.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is:1. A computer-implemented method for managing a right in a media asset,comprising: maintaining a database of media assets that includes recordsfor each media asset; maintaining a database of rights holders thatincludes records for rights holders in media items included in thedatabase of media assets, said records indicating the media assets inwhich a rights holder has a right, and the type of right; receiving arequest to license a media asset as a result of an interaction with anelectronic user interface on behalf of a customer; determining if therequested media asset is included in the database of media assets; ifthe requested media asset is included in the database of media assets,obtaining information from the database of rights holders about a rightsholder in the requested media asset, said information including a rightheld by the rights holder; if the requested media asset is not includedin the database of media assets, obtaining information about a rightsholder in the requested media asset from an external database, based atleast in part on the request, said information including the right heldby the rights holder; automatically requesting approval to license tothe media asset from the rights holder according to the right held bythe rights holder; and providing an indication of whether the request isgranted based on a response from the rights holder.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the external database is accessed across the Internet.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising if the requested mediaasset is not included in the database of media assets, adding the mediaasset to the database of media assets.
 4. A system for managing a rightin a media asset, comprising: a computer processor; a database mediaassets that includes records for each media asset; a database of rightsholders that includes records for rights holders in media items includedin the database of media assets, said records indicating the mediaassets in which a rights holder has a right, and the type of right; arights analyzer, implemented by said processor, that performs aplurality of operations, including: receiving a request to license amedia asset as a result of an interaction with an electronic userinterface on behalf of a customer; determining if the requested mediaasset is included in the database of media assets; if the requestedmedia asset is included in the database of media assets, obtaininginformation from the database of rights holders about a rights holder inthe requested media asset, said information including the right held bythe rights holder; if the requested media asset is not included in thedatabase of media assets, obtaining information about a rights holder inthe requested media asset from an external database, based at least inpart on the received designation, said information including the rightheld by the rights holder; a rights clearance module, implemented bysaid processor, in communication with the rights analyzer, wherein therights clearance module performs a plurality of operations, including:automatically requesting the approval to license the requested mediaasset from the rights holder according to the right held by the rightsholder; and providing an indication of whether request is granted baseda response from the rights holder.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein theexternal database is accessed across the Internet.
 6. The system ofclaim 4, wherein the rights analyzer performs operations furthercomprising if the requested media asset is not included in the databaseof media assets, adding the media asset to the database of media assets.7. A computer-implemented method for managing a right in a media asset,comprising: maintaining a database of media assets including records foreach media asset, each record including a unique identifier for themedia asset, and meta-data that describes the media asset; providing auser interface to a customer computer that enables a customer todesignate a media asset for licensing; receiving a request to license amedia asset on behalf of a customer, said request including a mediaasset identifier that corresponds to a media asset selected by thecustomer; identifying a rights holder in the requested media asset andthe right held by the rights holder in the requested media asset, basedat least in part on the media asset identifier; automatically requestingapproval to license the requested media asset from the rights holderaccording to the right held by the rights holder; if approval to licensethe requested media asset is denied by the rights holder, searching thedatabase of media assets for a substitute media asset based at least inpart on the meta-data for the requested media asset; and providing bythe user interface information to the customer, said informationincluding (i) an indication that the request to license the media assetwas denied, and (ii) information about the substitute media asset.
 8. Asystem for managing a right in a media asset, comprising: a computerprocessor; a database of media assets including records for each mediaasset, each record including a unique identifier for the media asset,and meta-data that describes the media asset; a rights analyzer,implemented by said processor, that performs a plurality of operations,including: receiving a request by a customer to license a media asset asa result of an interaction with an electronic user interface, saidrequest including a media asset identifier that corresponds to therequested media asset; identifying a rights holder in the requestedmedia asset and the right held by the rights holder in the media asset,based at least in part on the media asset identifier; a rights clearancemodule, implemented by said processor, in communication with the rightsanalyzer, wherein the rights clearance module performs a plurality ofoperations, including: automatically requesting approval to license therequested media asset from the rights holder according to the right heldby the rights holder; and a rights tracking module, implemented by saidprocessor, in communication with the rights clearance module, whereinthe rights tracking module performs a plurality of operations, includingif approval to license the requested media asset is denied by the rightsholder, searching the database of media assets for a substitute mediaasset based at least in part on the meta-data for the requested mediaasset; and providing (i) an indication that the request to license therequested media asset was denied, and (ii) information about thesubstitute media asset.